UNITED
NATIONS,
September 22
-- As Ban
Ki-moon's time
at the UN
winds down and
he prepares
coyly to run
for President
in South
Korea, his
packaging of
his legacy has
become a
vanity amateur
operation.

Take
for example
the hard
cover book on
his conference
table when
he met
on September
18 with Donald
Tusk,
President,
European
Council and
Frans
Timmermans,
First
Vice-President,
European
Commission. Inner
City Press subsequently
went and saw
it give to
Poland, Chad
and it seems
clear (all)
others.

It is
called
“Highlights of
the tenure of
Ban Ki-moon,
2007-2016.”
Inner City
Press asks:
who wrote it?
Who paid for
it? Why was
this done?
What are the
contents?

Inner
City Press
asked Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric and
for three
days, nothing.
Then this:

"You
asked me about
the book the
Secretary-General
has been
giving to
visiting
dignitaries.
The genesis of
this reflects
the
Secretary-General's
efforts to
ensure a
smooth
handover to
his
successor.
In addition to
the usual
issue briefs
on the full
a-to-z agenda,
the
Secretary-General
felt that it
would be
beneficial for
the
Secretariat as
a whole to
assess in an
open, broader,
more thematic
way the
challenges
that were
faced, to
explain the
approaches
that were
taken to
address them,
and to
catalogue the
obstacles that
were
encountered
along the way
and how they
were -- or
were not --
overcome.

This exercise
was undertaken
by small
working groups
across the
Secretariat,
funds and
programmes. It
was also an
important
exercise in
teamwork
across the
Secretariat
and a useful
exercise for
staff members
at all levels
who
participated,
providing the
opportunity to
pause and look
back at what
has been
achieved in
each of their
areas of
competency.

While the
insights
provided
should help
inform the
next
administration,
it was also
decided, in
line with
Secretary-General's
general policy
on
transparency,
that it may be
of interest to
a wider
audience and
as such, it
was decided to
issue it for
publication.
In this
regard, there
will be an
initial print
run for book
of 500
paperback
editions and
1,000
hardcovers. It
will be sold
in the
Bookshop and
through our
other
distribution
channels and
be published
through DPI’s
publication
unit."

So it
IS a vanity
press
publication.
How much did
it cost? Why
has Ban's
office been
unwilling to
show a copy,
if it is such
an "open"
approach? What
does it say
about Yemen?
Haiti cholera?
Sri Lanka? The
John Ashe / Ng
Lap Seng case?
Burundi? Ng
Lap Seng and
the promotion
of Ban's son
in law? We'll
have more on
this.

In
the hall was
the office of
Nardos
Bekele-Thomas,
moved out of
the top job in
Kenya so Ban's
son in law
could occupy
it before Ban
leaves.
Legacy,
indeed....

The
Friday before
UN General
Assembly week
starts in
earnest,
reporters at
the UN were
told of some
of the
upcoming
meetings and
how, despite
restrictions,
to cover them.

Inner
City Press
asked the head
of the UN's
Department of
Public
Information
Cristina
Gallach why
DPI says the
non-resident
correspondents,
the vast
majority of
journalists
covering the
UN, will be
placed in
basement
Conference
Room 1 where
no only food
and beverages
but even water
is not
allowed.

(In
Ban's
conference
room there is
water and,
we've noted at
his all-Korean
meeting, tea.)

Gallach's
reply cited to
“professionalism”
and rules,
both of which
she invoked
when she ousted
and then
evicted
Inner City
Press from the
UN earlier
this year.

Ironically,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric less
that an hour
later explained
having
violated the
rules (about
those without
cameras not
attending
photo ops) so
that South
Korean print
journalists
could witness
Ban's speech
to politicians
visiting from
Seoul.

Gallach said
that the
outside event
- the case in
Federal court
- is being
followed. So
Inner City
Press asked
for her
response to
testimony in
the case that
South South
News, which
unlike Inner
City Press the
rule-invoking
Gallach left
in its UN
office
despite or
because of it
not asking any
questions at
the UN, was
named as a
“conduit of
bribery.”
This, she did
not answer.

After the
briefing,
which included
film maker
Richard Curtis
whom Inner
City Press
asked about
the Next SG
race,
Gallach's
staffer asked
for further
information
about the
water(less)
issue.

Inner City
Press added
the exclusion
of
non-resident
correspondents
from access to
the UN's EZTV
which shows
more events
than the UN
webcast. See flier
here of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access,
also ejected
and sign torn
down under
Gallach. What
will change?
We'll see.
Watch this
site.